Dark Crimes (2016)

 

Genre: Drama
Directed by: Alexandros Avanas
Starring: Jim Carrey, Marton Csokas, Charlotte Gainsbourg
Running time: 92 minutes

 

While investigating the murder of a businessman, a detective named Tadek starts seeing resemblances between that case and the work of a novel author named Kozlov. Tadek starts digging deeper and deeper into that case, at the detriment of his personal life.

I hated that film. The story had potential, but the pace was so slow and the tone made it all so heavy and dry that it was hard to stay interested in it all. I have been a Jim Carrey fan since I was a teenager, all through various cinematic experiments, and I can say that this is the first film involving him that I absolutely loathed. Some were not as good, but this bad; it is a first. He seemed out of place, and the rest of the acting performances were not any more inspired. This film should be avoided, unless morbid curiosity is your thing.

Rating: «

Le Matou (1985)

 

Genre: Franco / Drama
Réalisateur: Jean Beaudin
Distribution: Serge Dupire, Monique Spaziani, Jean Carmet, Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge 

Running time: 141 minutes

 

Florent Boissonneault est un jeune homme plein d’ambition qui rêve d’opérer un restaurant avec sa femme Élise. Son rêve devient réalité, avec l’aide d’un mystérieux vieillard nommé Egon Ratablavasky. Était-ce trop beau pour être vrai, et le rêve deviendra-t-il un cauchemar. Florent et Élise verront aussi entrer dans leur vie un garçon nommé Monsieur Émile et son matou.

Ce classique du cinéma québécois demeure très touchant malgré le passage des années. Le jeu des acteurs est solide et la réalisation est réussie. Il y a quelques longueurs et quelques détours boiteux dans l’histoire, mais j’ai beaucoup aimé revoir ce film après toutes ces décennies passées.

Rating: ««««

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)

 
Genre: Horror
Directed by: Danny Steinmann
Starring: John Shepherd, Melanie Kinnaman, Shavar Ross 

Running time: 92 minutes

 

Years after killing Jason Voorhees as a 12 year old boy, Tommy Jarvis is still haunted by nightmares from his encounter with the serial killer. Tommy is transferred to a halfway house, where he lives with a group of teens and young adults. When a new masked killer taking the mask and identity of Voorhees comes around, people start dying again.

That movie was the point where they took the franchise too far. It should have ended with the fourth film. In number five, the acting was bad, the story was pointless and the whole thing was a mess. It was overloaded with pointless nudity to try and compensate, but that sure was not enough to make this film even a little enjoyable.

Rating: «

 

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

Genre: Horror
Directed by: Joseph Zito

Starring: Kimberly Beck, Peter Barton, Corey Feldman, Crispin Glover 
Running time: 91 minutes

 

Left for dead on the grounds of Higgins Haven, the body of Jason Voorhees is brought to the morgue. He comes back to life and kills the doctor and nurse guarding his body and then makes his way back to Crystal Lake, where he goes after a group of partying youngsters and the family of Trish Jarvis, her younger brother Tommy and their mom.

In my humble opinion, this is the best movie in the franchise. The acting was good, with such names as Corey Feldman and Crispin Glover added to the mix. The storyline was interesting, and a good job was done at building tension. A lot of effort was put in the cat-and-mouse chases. You knew bad stuff was going to happen, but you had to wait and wait for it, building expectations until delivery.

Had the franchise ended here, it would have had a great ending.

Rating: ««««

Friday the 13th Part III (1982)

 

Genre: Horror
Directed by: Steve Miner
Starring: Dana Kimmell, Paul Krafka, Tracie Savage 

 Running time: 95 minutes

 

After the events of the second film, an injured Jason Voorhees take refuge in the area near Crystal Lake. He kills a store owner and his wife for a change of clothes. When Chris Higgins and a group of her friends come to the area for a weekend away of partying and fun, Jason goes back on the hunt trying to kill them off one by one.

This is the first film where Jason Voorhees appears with the infamous hockey mask, that became a huge part of his look and of the mystique of the franchise. What a great choice it was. In the second film, Jason looked a scared kid sneaking around. Here, he looks like a true monster and like a dangerous predator. In terms of horror movie effectiveness, it was a solid move.

With this third installment in the franchise, they also managed to write better material and to have better actors to deliver it on screen. Overall, this is a very entertaining horror movie.

Rating: ««««

Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

Genre: Horror
Directed by: Steve Miner
Starring: Adrienne King, Amy Steel, John Furey

Running time: 87 minutes

 

Five years after the events of the first film, a group of camp counsellors are back to Crystal Lake for some training. Unfortunately for them, Jason is still around ready to kill them off one by one, if they are not careful.

This sequel to the original quickly ties off the bow of the first film and then moves on to the next story. Slowly, we see more and more of Jason. He is slowly morphing from invisible to visible killer, though he still does not have the hockey mask that would become an integral part of his look.

The acting is a little better, though not that much. The story feels more adult, with nudity and all, and seeing the killer is a big plus. It is still cheesy and over-the-top by today’s standards, but, as a product of its time, it is still entertaining, though trying to repeat the end shocker a second time was not as fresh as the first time.

Rating: «««

Friday the 13th (1980)

 

Genre: Horror
Directed by: Sean S. Cunningham
Starring: Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Harry Crosby, Kevin Bacon 

 Running time: 95 minutes

 

A group of counsellors are trying to reopen the abandoned summer camp called Crystal Lake, where some terrible things happened decades earlier. As they are making final preparations before opening, on Friday the 13^th, they are picked out one by one and killed by a mysterious unseen killer.

This was the start of the movie franchise involving the character of Jason. It is a movie franchise that many will accuse of overstaying its welcome. In this first film, we never really see the character of Jason. We just see the killings from the killer's point of view.

The acting is mostly quite bad here. It is a very cheesy and dated flick. It was nice, though, to see a young Kevin Bacon at work. The most effective element here is the music. It makes the whole film feel scarier than it really is. That fight involving Jason’s mother towards the end was cheesy beyond belief, but that scene with Alice on the boat after that was a nice shocker.

 Rating: ««